Pro & Con: With a 1-2 record, are the Jets facing a critical game today against the Cardinals?

Sep. 28, 2008

Pro: Hard schedule makes win a must

Go ahead, look at the schedule after the bye week. It's easy, no one can argue that.

Cincinnati, Oakland, Kansas City and St. Louis make up four of the first five games after the break for the Jets. Those teams have a combined record of 1-11.

But this is a game the Jets must have. They can't start off 0-2 at home and 1-3 overall.

Football is a game of momentum, more so than any other sport. A team starts losing and when does it end? On the other hand a win here and they could start a nice long winning streak.

This is a team that looks lost in the huddle, befuddled on the sideline and frustrated at press conferences. How will another loss help alleviate those problems?

The easiest way into the playoffs is through the division, where Buffalo already has a two-game lead at 3-0. And after the Rams roll over it will be 4-0.

The Ravens seem to be back in the hunt and the Steelers are a good team, while the Jets barely put up a fight against the Chargers and got embarrassed at home against the Patriots who trotted out first-ever starter Matt Cassel.

Those same Patriots last week against the Dolphins looked as lost as Eric Mangini and Brian Schottenheimer do calling plays on the goal line.

Let's not forget that the two best teams in the AFC - the Titans and Broncos - are both 3-0. And two playoff teams from last year - the Colts and Jaguars - are both 1-2, two games behind the Titans in the AFC South.

Any game that the Jets have a chance to win they need to win it. Are the Titans going to fold? Is this just not the Colts' year? Is New England done without Brady?

The Jets can sit back and hope the answer to all those questions is a resounding yes or they can be snapped back into reality by another Brett Favre interception and realize this is a must-win game against Arizona.

Since 2003, only one team in the AFC - the 2006 Chiefs - made the playoffs with fewer than 10 wins. The Chiefs finished 9-7 that year.

Lose this week and there are only six games that look like wins for the Jets. The four after the bye week, at San Francisco on Dec. 7 and home vs. Miami on Dec. 28. But the 49ers are improved at 2-1 and the Jets almost lost to the Dolphins in Week 1.

Win those six games and that would put the Jets at 7-9 for the season - three wins short of potentially reaching the playoffs.

With the exception of Seattle and New England, who are both 1-2, the rest of the teams on the schedule have yet to lose.

Mangini can sing the "it's just another game" song, but in reality it isn't. Lose this game and Favre might as well spend the rest of the season devising his timetable on when to tell the Jets whether or not he'll play next year.

Con: Jets still have time to get on track

Terrence Watson

The Journal News

So the J-e-t-s run the r-i-s-k of starting off the season 1-3. Last time I checked the season wasn't won or lost in Week 4 but over a grueling time that lasts from early September until the tundra freezes in the middle of winter. No one's even carved a turkey yet, so I think it's a bit premature to write them off in the wide-open AFC East.

The Jets have as good a chance as the Patriots, Bills and even Miami to represent the AFC East in the postseason. Not only is it too early to declare anyone a favorite or a bust, the fact that everyone keeps beating each other is a testament to how this may play out to be the most competitive season for the division since the peeping Pats inserted Tom Brady in Bill Belichick's offense.

The Dolphins beat the Patriots 38-13 last week, while the Buffalo Bills have started 3-0. Throw in the fact that Brady wont be back this season and things get really interesting. Matt Cassel has stepped up, Chad Pennington is still slowly gaining yards and Brett Favre is looking as ageless as Dick Clark. Hopefully for the Jets' faithful, he'll lead the green team to a rocking new year.

The first quarter of the season has been a tight race, leaving the Jets with a lot to look forward to. They've faced the Patriots and the Chargers, two teams that have been at the top of the NFL totem pole for more than half of this decade. After next week's bye the Jets will play the Bengals, Raiders and Chiefs.

Then we'll have a better idea of what the Jets, and all the other teams have to offer, as far as possible postseason threats. Let us not forget that some teams have started out well and then fallen flat when it counted.

The 2007 lions looked better than ever those first few weeks, starting out 6-2 and even guaranteeing their first postseason berth since Barry Sanders' departure in 1999. So much for first-half momentum.

The Patriots taught us a valuable lesson last season. It's not how you start the season, it's how you finish. Going from on top of the world, to the biggest asterisk in the history of the NFL, thanks to Big Blue.

Perhaps the most important No. 4 right now isn't the week of the NFL schedule but the salt-and-peppered legend Brett Favre. It may sound like an excuse, but give him time to gel with the team. He's barely had time to unload his fishing and hunting gear, but once he does, I'm sure he'll unload a bunch of touchdown passes as well.

While it's hard to make good on guarantees in sports, there was one about 39 years ago made by Broadway Joe Namath. With that in mind, I'm guaranteeing that this week won't determine the outcome of the season. Once Brett gets used to big-city life, Broadway may have more than one resident.